DemocracyNet is an international and interdisciplinary association that gathers scholars of democracy. A list of our current members is displayed below. To stay updated about their current research and activities: subscribe to our mailinglist, like our facebook page, follow us on Twitter or on Mastodon.
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List of Members (in alphabetical order)
| Odile Ammann | Associate Professor Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice, and Public Administration, University of Lausanne Webpage Research interests: Constitutional law, administrative law, international law, legal theory, lobbying, political representation and domestic lawmaking processes DemocracyNet Treasurer 2018-2021 |  |
| Johannes Besch | Doctoral Researcher Department of Political Science, University of Zurich Webpage Research interests: Legislator dissent, party factionalism, personalization of politics, populist parties |  |
| Palmo Brunner | Doctoral Researcher Department of Political Science, University of Zurich Webpage Research interests: Diaspora politics, transnationalism and integration, mobilization and contentious politics, social networks, transnational repression, policy analysis and public health DemocracyNet Managing Board member 2018-2022; social media management 2018-2024; DPDS contact person 2018-2022 |  |
| Junmo Cheon | Doctoral Researcher Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau(ZDA), University of Zürich Webpage Research interests: Political representation, local politics, environmental policy, welfare state, comparative politics |   |
| Dimitri Courant | Postdoctoral Researcher Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University Webpage Research interests: Sortition, democratic innovations, mini-publics, citizens’ assemblies, representation, deliberation, participation, comparative politics DemocracyNet social media management 2018-today |  |
| Alix d’Agostino | Doctoral Researcher Chair of Democracy and Public Governance, University of Zurich Contact Research interests: Policy design, advocacy coalition framework (ACF), environmental policy DemocracyNet Managing Board member 2022-today; social media management 2022-today |  |
| Alice el-Wakil | Assistant professor (tenure-track) Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen Webpage Research interests: Normative political theory, democratic theory, democratic innovations, popular vote processes (referendums and initiatives), representation, agenda-setting DemocracyNet president 2016-2020, Managing Board member 2020-2022; webpage management 2016-2024 |  |
| Christian Ewert | Lecturer, Consultant & Coach Webpage (in German only) Research interests: Governance, Democracy, Communication, Discourses & Semiotics, Methods DemocracyNet Working paper series editor 2019-2020; Managing Board member 2019-2020; Webmaster 2023-today |  |
| Dannica Fleuss | Postdoctoral Researcher Institute of Future Media, Democracy & Society at Dublin City University; Research associate, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra Webpage Research interests: democratic/critical theory, theoretical and empirical studies of deliberative democracy, citizen assemblies on climate change and decolonizing democratic theory DemocracyNet President 2024-today; calendar management 2020-2022 |  |
| Giada Gianola | Doctoral Researcher Institute of Political Science, University of Bern Webpage Research interests: Democracy, digital democracy, (online) deliberation, parties, quantitative methods DemocracyNet Managing Board member 2022-today |  |
| Nargiz Hajiyeva | Doctoral Researcher, International Relations Officer at International Cooperation Department, and Lecturer at International School of Economics (ISE) Azerbaijan State University of Economics Webpage Research interests: International security and foreign policy issues, energy security, cultural and political history, global political economy and international public law, EU energy policy, migration policy and related fields |  |
| Lea Heyne | Research Fellow Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon Webpage Research interests: Comparative politics, quality of democracy, political attitudes, electoral behaviour DemocracyNet President 2020-2024; Vice-President 2016-2018; network’s coordinator 2016-2018; webpage management 2024-today |  |
| Nicolás Jaramillo | Dr. des in Sociology and political scientist Heidelberg University Webpage Research interests: Democratization processes, political representation, politics and ethics, public-private relations, corruption, organizational deviance, whistleblowing. Member of the planning committee of the Academy Against Corruption in the Americas and the Colombian Chair of Citizenship, Integrity and Anti-Corruption. |  |
| Stefan Kalberer | Doctoral Researcher University of Zurich, Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) Webpage Research interests: Democracy beyond the nation-state, democratic theory, qualitative methods, democratic innovations |  |
| Deborah Kalte | Postdoctoral Researcher University of Zurich, Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) Webpage Research interests: Political consumerism, lifestyle politics, political participation DemocracyNet Managing Board member 2018-2022; calendar manager 2018-2020; DPDS contact person 2018-2022; Treasurer 2021-2024 |  |
| Zoé Kergomard | Postdoctoral Researcher (Oberassistentin) University of Zurich, Department of History Webpage Research interests: Social and cultural history of democracy with a gender approach, political parties, social movements, citizenship norms, political participation |  |
| Philipp Kerler | Postdoctoral Researcher University of Zurich, Department of Political Science Webpage Research interests: Political Economy, Development, Comparative Politics, Structural economic explanations for the rise of the far right in the Global South |  |
| Henri-Pierre Mottironi | Postdoctoral Researcher University of Lausanne, Institut d’études politiques, historiques et internationnales, Centre Walras Pareto Webpage Research interests: History of political thought, contemporary political theory, democratic theory, democratic practice, representation DemocracyNet blog editor 2020-2024; Vice-President 2018-2020; network’s coordinator 2018-2020 |  |
| Daniel Mususa | Pre-doctoral Researcher Contact Research interests: Youth and democracy, elections, deliberative democracy, active citizenship, community security, service delivery and accountability, corruption |  |
| Sarah Perry | Evaluatorin, Beraterin IMAP GmbH Webpage Research interests: Identity, effective and democratic political performance DemocracyNet ResearchGate accounts management 2018-2022 |  |
| Lukas Peter | Postdoctoral Researcher University of St-Gallen Contact Research interests: Democratic theory, philosophy of freedom, philosophy of economics, property rights DemocracyNet Treasurer 2016-2018; Managing Board member 2018-2020; Webmaster 2019-2022 |  |
| Valentina Petrović | Postdoctoral researcher Department of Sociology, University of Zurich Contact Research interests: Democratization in post-communist states, structuralist democratization theories, political economy and political sociology in Eastern Europe |  |
| Jan-Erik Refle | Lecturer, University of Lausanne; Visiting Research Fellow, Oxford, DPIR Webpage Research interests: Democracy, democratization, social movements, network analysis, framing, outcomes, qualitative and quantitative methods, peacekeeping, Africa, Middle East, mobilization, political identities |  |
| Jonathan Rinne | Postdoctoral Researcher Project “Economic Property and Political (In-)Equality” (part of the Special Research Cluster “Structural Change of Property”) University of Jena Webpage Research interests: Systems theory, democratic innovations, referendums, democratic theory, citizen participation, political equality. |  |
| Olivier Ruchet | Doctoral Researcher University of Zurich Contact Research interests: Democratic theory, radical democracy, contemporary political theory, European Union DemocracyNet Managing Board member 2020-today; social media management 2022-today |  |
| Victor Sanchez-Mazas | Doctoral Researcher Insitute of Citizenship Studies, University of Geneva Webpage Research interests: Democratic theory, deliberative democracy, participatory mechanisms |  |
| Martha Sandoval | Doctoral Researcher University of Zurich Webpage Research interests: Democratic institutions, representation, participation, democratic innovations, direct democracy, democratic theory, Latin America |  |
| Antoinette Scherz | Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Public and International Law, Oslo University Webpage Research interests: International political theory, institutional design, legitimacy, democratic theory and the concept of peoples DemocracyNet co-coordination 2011-2016 |  |
| Max Steuer | Faculty Member O.P. Jindal Global University – Comenius University in Bratislava Webpage Research interests: Constitutional courts, constitutionalism in the European Union, cultural expertise, deliberative democracy, freedom of expression, militant democracy, Visegrád Group |  |
| Arno Stirnimann | Doctoral Researcher University of Zurich Webpage Research interests: Political theory (realism), history of political thought (early-modern theories of the state), political ethics (dirty hands theory), state secrecy in liberal democracies |  |
| Michael Strebel | Research Associate KPM Center for Public Management, University of Bern Webpage Research interests: Public opinion, urban politics, multilevel governance, democratic legitimacy, comparative politics DemocracyNet mailing list 2017-today; member management 2018-2022 |  |
| Aris Trantidis | Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations University of Lincoln Webpage Research interests: Democracy, democratisation, pathologies of democracy, public choice theory, clientelism, political corruption, democratic backsliding, climate politics, deliberative democracy |  |
| Chiara Valsangiacomo | Postdoctoral Researcher University College Dublin, Ireland Webpage Research interests: Democratic theory, liquid democracy DemocracyNet Vice-President 2020-2024; network coordinator 2020-2024; new members management 2022-today; Treasurer 2024-today; Social Media manager 2024-today |  |
| Francesco Veri | Postdoctoral Researcher Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra Webpage Research interests: Democratic innovations, deliberative democracy, direct democracy, set theory and fuzzy logic applied to social science DemocracyNet Vice-President 2024-today; network coordinator 2024-today |  |
| Rebecca Welge | Dr. sc. ETH Zurich, Researcher, Lecturer, Trainer for Citizenship Education Webpage Research interests: Citizenship and political rights, democratic governance, perceptions of democracy, knowledge transfer, education about/for/through democracy DemocracyNet founder and coordinator 2011-2016; Managing Board member 2016-2018; webpage creation and administrative management 2011-2020 |  |
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Managing Board 2024-2026
Dannica Fleuss (President)
Francesco Veri (Vice-president)
Chiara Valsangiacomo (Treasurer)
Alix d’Agostino, Giada Gianola, Lea Heyne, Olivier Ruchet
Contact the Managing Board per e-mail
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